{"id":788551,"date":"2026-07-08T16:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T16:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/788551\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T16:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T16:13:09","slug":"people-moves-steward-hires-coo-william-blair-taps-strategist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/788551\/","title":{"rendered":"People Moves: Steward Hires COO; William Blair Taps Strategist"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steward Partners, a Stamford, Conn.-based independent financial services firm with more than $53 billion in client assets, has named Joseph Glick as chief operating officer.<\/p>\n

Glick joins Steward from Sequoia Financial Group, where he served as both chief operating officer and chief financial officer, overseeing the firm\u2019s operational and financial infrastructure, as well as M&A integration and an organic growth strategy, according to the announcement.<\/p>\n

He will report directly to Steward leadership and oversee finance, operations and technology as it builds infrastructure to support growth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSteward Partners is at a genuine inflection point,\u201d Glick said in a statement. \u201cHaving surpassed $53 billion in client assets, the firm is ready to build the kind of standardized, scalable infrastructure that supports the next leg of growth\u2014whether that\u2019s reaching the next AUM milestone, expanding margins, or developing a more powerful growth engine in partnership with advisors across the firm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related:Wavvest Recruits $1.4B Advisor to In-House RIA<\/a><\/p>\n

In the last 12 months, Steward has added advisors overseeing nearly $8 billion in client assets.<\/p>\n

Prior to Sequoia, Glick spent 14 years at Deutsche Bank in senior operational leadership roles across London, continental Europe and New York.<\/p>\n

William Blair Promotes Olga Bitel to Chief Investment Strategist<\/p>\n

William Blair Investment Management, a Chicago-based investment manager, promoted Olga Bitel as chief investment strategist, the firm announced.<\/p>\n

In the newly established role, Bitel will help shape and articulate the firm\u2019s investment perspectives on global economic conditions, monetary and fiscal policy, financial markets, public policy and geopolitical developments, the firm said.<\/p>\n

She joined William Blair Investment Management in 2009 and most recently served as global strategist.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years, we have benefited from Olga\u2019s deep investment knowledge, global perspective and ability to connect macroeconomic developments to portfolio outcomes,\u201d Bob Kendall, global head of investment management at William Blair, said in a statement. \u201cWe are pleased to formally appoint her as our chief investment strategist, as she is uniquely qualified for this role.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kestra Adds Two Business Development Consultants<\/p>\n

Kestra Financial, an Austin, Texas-based independent broker\/dealer, added Austen Karr as business development consultant and promoted Jack Roller to the same role, the firm announced.<\/p>\n

The appointments extend Kestra\u2019s recruiting coverage across the western U.S. as the firm focuses on growth<\/a> across both Kestra Financial and its breakaway-advisor channel, Kestra Private Wealth Services.<\/p>\n

Related:People Moves: $6.9B Private Markets Firm Willow Wealth Names President<\/a><\/p>\n

Karr comes to Kestra from Raymond James, where he served as vice president for nearly 11 years and will cover Southern California, Colorado, Nevada and Hawaii. He has worked in business development, recruiting and distribution roles, including with LPL Financial and MetLife.<\/p>\n

Roller was promoted by Kestra from within, having joined the firm in 2022 as a financial planning analyst and working his way up on the business development team.<\/p>\n

Roller will lead recruiting across Washington, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and Alaska.<\/p>\n

Allocate Appoints Matt Dunn Chief Revenue Officer<\/p>\n

Allocate, a San Francisco-based private markets operating system for wealth advisory firms and fund managers, has hired Matt Dunn from advisory firm RevFolio Partners as its chief revenue officer, the company announced.<\/p>\n

Prior to taking on the role of chief revenue officer, Dunn served as an advisor to Allocate, where he helped shape the company\u2019s growth strategy and go-to-market approach, according to an announcement. He held previous positions at PIMCO, Morgan Stanley and Opto Investments, in which he specialized in helping companies scale advisor-focused businesses and navigate transformation.<\/p>\n

Related:Hightower President Steps Down Less Than Three Months into Tenure<\/a><\/p>\n

The appointment follows a series of senior hires as Allocate scales to meet demand for private markets infrastructure, which includes $4.8 billion in platform assets, the firm said. Allocate currently works with 375 wealth advisory firms and has relationships with more than 1,500 private asset managers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing a fundamental shift in how advisors access and manage private markets, and the demand for modern infrastructure continues to accelerate,\u201d said Samir Kaji, CEO and co-founder of Allocate, in a statement. \u201cMatt\u2019s appointment reflects both the scale of the opportunity ahead and the caliber of team we\u2019re building to pursue it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company also appointed early founding team member and senior engineering leader Jon Gaudette as head of artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

Diversified Trust Names Atlanta Leaders as Part of Succession Plan<\/p>\n

Diversified Trust, an Atlanta-based, employee-owned advisory firm, has made leadership appointments in its Atlanta office that will be part of its long-term succession plan, the firm announced.<\/p>\n

As part of the moves, Laurel Lawrence was promoted to managing principal of the Atlanta office, up from her role as that office\u2019s chief operating officer, where she helped grow the office.<\/p>\n

In addition, Ryan Cain was promoted to her role as COO of the office, where he will coordinate across teams and support execution. He was previously a relationship and portfolio manager.<\/p>\n

As the firm announced earlier this year, Michael Gragnani will become the firm\u2019s CEO effective Jan. 1, 2027. For over six years, Gragnani had been the Atlanta managing principal. He will continue to serve the Atlanta market, clients and colleagues, while also leading the firm\u2019s strategic direction and growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cCollectively, these promotions reflect years of intentional investment in our people and our culture,\u201d said Sam Graham, current chairman and CEO of Diversified Trust, in a statement. \u201cThe result is a strong, talented bench of leaders who know our clients well, embody the way we collaborate with one another and are well positioned to guide our teams and contribute to the firm\u2019s continued growth.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steward Partners, a Stamford, Conn.-based independent financial services firm with more than $53 billion in client assets, has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[45,49,48,133,131,132],"class_list":["post-788551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}